August 13, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
Sales of existing single-family homes increased nearly fifty percent in Texas during the second quarter of 2012 compared to the first quarter according to the latest data from the Texas Association of REALTORS® (TAR), while home prices improved by almost ten percent.
An estimated total of 67,334 existing single-family homes were sold in the Lone Star State in the second quarter of 2012. That was 48.0 percent higher than the 45,502 homes sold in the first quarter and 13.0 percent higher than the 58,795 homes sold in the second quarter of 2011.
The median sales price for an existing home in Texas increased by 9.5 percent in the second quarter to $161,100, up from $147,100 in the first quarter, and was 7.5 percent higher than the median price of $150,400 in the second quarter of last year.
Joe Stewart, chairman of the Texas Association of REALTORS®, stated, “The momentum we saw in the first quarter of this year is continuing and we’re seeing that now not only in increased sales volume, but also in a strong increase in the median price. That is good news for Texas homeowners who have been thinking of moving up, but who have remained on the sidelines because they’re concerned about earning full value for their current home.”
The amount of homes available for sale declined to a 5.9 months supply in the second quarter, down from a 6.0 months supply in the first quarter and an 8.1 months supply in the second quarter of 2010.
The Houston area posted the most sales during the quarter with 19,390 single-family home sales, up from 12,912 sales in the first quarter and up from 16,790 sales recorded during the same time period last year. The Dallas area followed with 14,357 homes sold, up from 9,659 the previous quarter.
Out of the 48 areas that provide data for the report, forty-two experienced year-over-year gains in sales with the Corus Christi area posting the highest increase of 24.3 percent while the Sherman-Denison area posted the largest decline of 12.5 percent.
Year-over-year, forty-one of the areas posted an increase in their median prices or were unchanged from the previous year, led by the Lufkin area with a 24.2 percent price increase while the Paris area posted the largest decline in prices of 20.6 percent.
Jim Gaines, Ph.D., an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University which analyzes the report for TAR®, said, “One of the most noteworthy aspects of this quarter’s results is the consistency across markets. Occasionally, statewide results can be dominated by trends in Texas’s largest markets due to the large volume of real estate transactions they represent. However, in this case, the increases in both sales volume and median price are seen throughout most of the 48 Texas markets included in the report.”
Tags: Texas real estate, existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices
Source:
Texas Association of REALTORS®
